Neither of these guys became well-known as writers but their
series character, rookie New York cop Johnny Benton, like
Frank and Joe Hardy, was there during my formative
mystery-reading years.
In the late '50s and early '60s, Dodd, Mead published a
series of juvenile (I guess nowadays they'd be called "young
adult") novels called "Career Books," stories about
particular jobs written by actual members of the profession
being depicted. One of these career books was called JOHN
BENTON - ROOKIE POLICEMAN, and the co-authors were Connors
and Glaser.
Aside from their respective ranks at the time the book
was published, I recall nothing about them except that one of
them, I think it was Glaser, mentioned enjoying Broadway
plays and night clubs ("night clubbing" seems an odd thing to
mention enjoying in a children's book). BENTON, which
featured a foreword by legendary NYC Police Commissioner
Stephen Kennedy, showed Johnny getting hired, going through
the academy, and handling himself during his first few
formative months patrolling a beat.
It was popular enough that Glaser was persuaded to go solo on
a sequel, SQUAD ROOM DETECTIVE, in which Johnny, after a
furious gun battle with an armed gangster, gets awarded with
the gold shield of a detective. Assigned to his precinct's
squad, he's shown the ropes by his new partners as he tries
to track down the remaining members of the gang of criminals
that the scalawag he shot it out with belonged to.
I mention these two, apart from the books being a fond
memory, because it occurs to me that police procedurals,
almost alone among hard-boiled crime fiction, is often used
in juvenile fiction. Although the two Benton books are the
only such novels I'm aware of that were written by cops, I
can think of a half-dozen juvenile police procedurals right
off hand.
Imagine, on the other hand, a juvenile novel about a
genuine hard-boiled PI (as opposed to kiddy wannabes like the
Hardys or the Three Investigators), or a professional armed
robber or organized crime figure
(though there might be some about "youthful offender" type
gangbangers).
Maybe juvenile writers are missing a bet here. I recall
feeling quite flattered that a kid's book had been written
about a dangerous adult profession, rather than about a kid
pretending to be part of such a profession.
JIM DOHERTY
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